Kara McMahon

Friday the Scaredy Cat, in my opinion, is a wonderful children’s book. The writing, characters, as well as the illustrations, allow this book to send a clear, vivid message that usually when you feel scared, there is really nothing to be scared of after all.

The writing in this book is very engaging because of how scared Friday, the cat, is throughout the whole book. It almost gives the story a suspenseful feeling, and at the same time some humor. For example, “A few hours later Friday came out again. He crept past the new bed and the new bowl and saw a pink toy mouse. It was different, so he was scared. Friday hid under the blanket.” The writing allows readers to get a sense of why Friday is scared, but the illustrations allow the readers to see that really there is nothing at all he should be worried about. Furthermore, in my opinion, the illustrations, specifically Friday, allow the readers to build feeling throughout the book for Friday. Because he looks so scared the reader can start to feel bad for him. Thus, the readers are more engaged in what the story is going to be about.

Fridays character is so ridiculously scared that it is funny. His character enhances the story tremendously. If he wasn’t depicted as being as scared as he looks in the illustrations, I’m not so sure this book would be as funny. His big, green, terrified eyes, and his timid body really are all great features to make this a well-developed book.… (mehr)